Bears fall to Calaveras in Friday night action,
Summerville falls to Calaveras 27-8
The Summerville High School Bears were unable to stop a second-half surge by Calaveras High School in their homecoming game Friday night at Thorsted Field in Tuolumne, losing 27-8.
“Obviously getting a win is exciting,” said Calaveras Head Coach Doug Clark. “It seems like we got more possession, we got a little more confident and we moved the ball a lot better.”
Calaveras was led to their victory by decisive offensive momentum in the second half, overcoming a slight deficit at the conclusion of the first.
“We didn’t run the ball well enough to stay ahead of the sticks, stay ahead of the chains,” said Summerville High School Head Coach Sean Leveroos.
Last week, the Summerville Bears weathered a near second-half comeback from the Big Valley Christian High School Lions to pull off their first victory, 16-13.
Unlike the previous week, conditions were dry, cold and biting by kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The crowd was more animated, and the stands were more occupied than a week prior, too, with the Mother Lode League rivals facing off against each other for the first time this year.
It was the third game of Summerville High School’s abridged coronavirus season, an exhibition match set up many months after the typical football season by the CIF Sac-joaquin section to allow bordering counties with low enough COVID-19 case rates to compete with one another.
Last week, Calaveras High School lost 11-0 against Sutter Creek’s Amador High School.
There was still a tinge of daylight at kickoff when the Summerville Bears received the ball. On their first drive, they made admirable advances forward, but a sack muted their progress.
Calaveras met the same complications on their first drive. At the conclusion of their run, the punter fumbled the snap, resulting in a Summerville first down on the 17-yard line.
But this time, Calaveras kept their defenses up and forced a turnover on downs four plays later.
The teams were still deadlocked by the conclusion of the first quarter.
Calaveras broke through with seven minutes remaining in the half, inching ahead with centerline running back pushes until they crossed the threshold of the endzone. The snap on point-after-attempt went high and awry, keeping the score at 0-6.
It appeared Summerville senior quarterback Jaden Brocchini threw an interception, but the referees flagged an illegal block to return the football and some territory to the Bears.
The ball exchanged between teams once more before the end of the half. In the final minutes, Summerville made three admirable runs upfield which brought them within scoring distance, but their momentum was stymied once in the final minute due to a holding foul.
A catch by Bears sophomore Kai Elkins put them again within scoring distance, and with six seconds remaining in the half, another player made the score. A two-point conversion ended the half with a Summerville lead, 8-6.
Though Calaveras was poised for another successful run at the beginning of the second half, Summerville recovered a fumble to earn possession again.
For much of the quarter, the teams appeared to be at a stalemate and exchanged possession with each other.
In the lingering seconds, Calaveras inched closer and closer to another score. With 20 seconds remaining, a long loping pass to Ty Ferante earned Calaveras the lead again. They were stopped short of a two-point conversion, bringing the score to 12-8.
Summerville was stopped short again from executing a scoring play. And with eight minutes remaining in the half, Calaveras widened their lead again with another run-in touchdown and two point conversion to widen their lead to 20-8.
“It was a really tough loss,” said senior linebacker Connor Cowley. “I think we got kind of complacent and threw the game.”
With three minutes remaining, Calaveras scored again off of #16 Braden Orlandi to solidify their victory.
“I felt like we were lacking in the first half, but in the second half we really learned how they played and shut them down,” said Calaveras senior offensive lineman Donivan Giangregorio.
Next week, Summerville will face off against Sonora and Calaveras will have an away game in Jackson against Argonaut High School.
“My seniors should be looking forward to their last week of football,” Leveroos said. “They’re getting to play the game they love.”